‘Empire of the Sun’ was a notorious flop which has gained something of a reputation over the years. I like it. But E.T. is a great film (in its original version). Can you name some of those pre SL Holocaust films? And no ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ doesn’t count. I remember a TV film called ‘Escape from Sobibor’ (which was quite good actually) but nothing that dealt with every multiple aspects of the experience. EFS was basically a suspense/action film.
E.T. early 80s, hadn’t really gone all the way down the path yet. I always though the movie was kind of annoying, and it certainly started a lot of the trends he gets hit for (mouthy kids, lack of risk, simplistic story, trite), but I can understand why people like it.
Yeah The Diary of Anne Frank does count, along with: Playing For Time, Remembrance of Love, Sophie’s Choice, The Wall (this I think is the Warsaw Ghetto movie I referred to earlier), The Scarlet and the Black. And that’s just 1980 to 1983.